Guest: Bob Zimmerman. Topics: Commercial space historical overview, launch industry, space news, rockets, & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed Bob Zimmerman back to the program to discuss a variety of commercial space, space news, and related topics. During the first segment of our 1 hour 56 minute discussion, Bob started out with an historical overview of the progress made in developing the commercial space industry, a U.S. cargo capability to the ISS, and eventually the U.S. capability of carrying astronauts back to the ISS. He started his timeline in 2004, specifically addressing the time since President Obama came to office. For almost the entire first segment, Bob noted milestones, progress, company developments, the beginning of competition and much more. Later in the segment, he mentioned what he said was the lack of progress in the suborbital industry during the time period he had been talking about and suggested that the suborbital companies may be missing parts of the market given their continued delays. He talked about this in more detail during the second segment. He also talked about human spaceflight (HSF), SLS, Falcon and SpaceX as a game changer, the efforts of Sierra-Nevada to continue on with Dream Chaser, & his opinion that it will likely be the private sector that manages HSF to the Moon and Mars rather than a public program. We talked about public opinion and space, then Marshall called to ask questions about China, their space program, plus a possible Chinese impact on our space policy. Bob had much to say about the Chinese program, then he had about an equal amount to say about the Russian program. Sylvester emailed in to also ask about China, specifically if Bob thought we would soon be cooperating with one another in space. Bob seized this opportunity to make it very clear as to why he disliked international partnerships, instead preferring competition. Before the segment ended, Beth asked Bob for his thoughts on the Moon-Mars debate.

In the second segment, Kristen started us off talking about LightSail. Bob had much to say about the mission, The Planetary Society, how it was funded, and the fact that it was based around using cubesats. He then spoke to the success of cubesats and how they are changing aspects of the industry. Bob jumped to Comet 67 P, the Rosetta mission and the Philae Lander. He used this opportunity to provide an overview of planetary missions starting in 1957. In talking about the success of planetary missions, he mentioned the Dawn mission to Ceres and Vesta plus many more. I asked Bob about New Horizons and Pluto. Bob had much to say about Pluto, its moons, & specifically the moon Charon. Other topics that came up as we neared the close of the show included the Europa mission and an effort to use crowd funding to make a porno film in space. This prompted Bob to say a few words about sex in space, plus he thought the porno film was just a PR stunt. Before the show ended, Tim in Huntsville asked for Bob to share his thoughts on the company Interorbital Systems. Bob then turned to the suborbitals having some things to say about Virgin Galactic, Blue Origins, and XCOR. He spoke to the need for redundancy, mentioned possible Stratolaunch problems with Orbital ATK no longer working with them on the rocket, then suggested some things to watch for in the second half of this year and closed out with a summary of key points he made during this program. Check out Bob’s blog, www.behindtheblack.com.

Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can reach Bob through his blog or me.

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Guest: William (Bill) Harwood; Topics: Space news, policy, & notable events now & throughout our space history. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed Bill Harwood of CBS Space News back to the show for this 80 minute discussion. During the first segment, I asked Bill for a bit of his personal history going back to when he first started doing space news with UPI. Next, I asked him what over the years has impressed him the most regarding space activities. Don’t miss what he had to say about this as multiple space events were on his list. In addition, I brought up the Planetary Society success with LightSail, their solar sail demo project. Bill talked about the mission, what is planned next for a larger, more lasting solar sail project, and the fact that The Planetary Society funded the $4.5 million cost from contributions by Planetary Society donors. Also in the news was the NASA “flying Saucer” which was really the demo of a new landing system for Mars using a huge (the largest ever) supersonic parachute 100′ across. Bill went into detail on the mission, even how it got tagged a “flying saucer” which he said was the responsibility of the media. Listener Robert sent in an email asking for Bill’s position on the Moon-Mars debate. Bill talked about benefits from both positions but did not share his personal preference as he wanted to stay strictly with reporting the news, not offering an editorial. That said, his discussion of the debate and the pros and cons of each side was most interesting. We talked some about planetary missions but honed in on New Horizons and Pluto. Also mentioned was the upcoming Europa Mission, then listener Carolyn asked him what he saw for human spaceflight over the next few years. Ben wanted to know if the private sector could take us back to the Moon. Bill had much to say about the emerging commercial industry but in the end suggested that the costs were so high along with very high risks that government would be the one to do it for a long time to come. Don’t miss what he had to say about both costs and risks. Russia and their hardware issues came up, then we had quite a discussion on commercial crew, not fully funding it, and continuing to pay the Russians rather than getting the job done with American providers. John from Ft. Worth gave us a call to talk about the SpaceX subsidies for Falcon 9, wondering if the price of a Falcon 9 launch was the true launch cost or a subsidized cost. John and Bill had an interesting discussion on this with a few added comments by yours truly. John also used the time to repeat his position that going to the Moon was essential before going to Mars and that SLS was likely a place holder for labor and technology until we have a different space policy with different space leadership. Bill talked about variables and lots of unknowns, including wild cards from China and other sources that could end up driving U.S. space policy and progress.

In the second segment, we talked about public private partnerships citing SpaceX as a good example of such a partnership. That said, Bill talked about the need for the commercials to have a destination such as the ISS for their goods and services but that is harder to realize with planetary missions. He said their needed to be something to do with the means to do it. This brought us to a space infrastructure discussion and the possible role of the government in building and paying for space infrastructure, especially to support industrial growth. Bill then address risk in much more detail. This is a discussion you don’t want to miss. We talked vehicle safety, Virgin Galactic, deep space missions, and much more. Barbara in Chicago asked Bill about frustrations and how the frustration level has changed over the three plus decades he has been covering space news. Bill took a few questions about the ISS and the potential closing of it in 2024. He was asked if we were in a space race with China and did not realize it. Carl inquired about the Indian space program, then Bill talked some more about the CST-100, the Dragon, remodeling the ISS for Independent Docking Adapters for the two vehicles and he even responded to a question about Dream Chaser. More was said about the ISS, plus he told us he met a person at NASA who was in charge of figuring out how to deorbit the ISS which weighs about 900,000 lbs. and moves at 5 miles a second. This is in advance of a probable 2024 termination date. In his closing comments, he said the public needed to let Congress know about their support for space. He also reminded us that space was dangerous, costly, and very risky. Before the show ended, I asked if he had seen rockets blow up on the pad. He had and he shared a few stories with us.

Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. If you want to email Mr. Harwood, you can do so through me.

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Guest: Dr. Chris Impey. Topics: “Beyond: Our Future In Space” plus many space policy issues and our future in space. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed back Dr. Chris Impey to the program for this 63 minute program discussing his latest book “Beyond: Our Future In Space” and related policy, economic, and technical space questions. Visit his website, www.chrisimpey.com for more information. Please remember if you buy his book through TSS/OGLF Amazon portal, Amazon will donate a percentage of the sales price to The Space Show. Instructions are on the website and all archived show summaries. We began our discussion with Dr. Impey providing us with the background to his latest book in that many people believe that our space program is in the doldrums, that NASA is beset with many problems and for some, they wonder why even bother with space. Dr. Impey wanted to show the audience that this was not the case so he wrote his latest book to show the benefits of space development and why we must have a future in space. The book mostly focuses on the human spaceflight potential but we discussed science missions and a space program that would be much broader than just human spaceflight. He also said the new industry was ready to go viral but had not done so yet. He suggested some dramatic events might be the turning point in changing the momentum so don’t miss what he had to say about this. We talked about NASA and NewSpace and he said it was no longer either or and that NASA was now partnering with NewSpace companies and the private sector. Dr. Impey highlighted the growth in the cubesat industry as an example of things changing. We talked about international space missions and he mentioned both Russia and China. With regards to China, ITAR was discussed as was the potential militarization of space. A listener asked our guest about an economic model and he said that was still troubling. He thought mining asteroids would not be viable if at all for a very long time. Listen to his explanation behind this conclusion. On the other hand, he thought space tourism was shaping up to have a robust market and was optimistic that the companies would soon be flying. I asked him for his five year timeline for big events. He listed operations with SpaceShip2 and Virgin and that SpaceX will commercialize reusability. He also expected to see fleets of commercially operating nano and microsats. Next,, he said the Moon or Mars was harder with people and that would take place over the next 10-15 years. He suggested China would visit the Moon with taikonauts in about a 15 year time frame. He said the Moon would happen when we have a new generation of talent and innovative people pushing it at the ground floor level. Listener Larry asked him about the regulatory risk. He thought it would be relatively stable as it is now. BJohn asked him about planetary science, astrobiology, geology, and biology along with the Big Bang Theory. Next, we discussed astronomy, including Earth astronomy but also exoplanets and the habitable zone. A listener asked him about finding life on Mars, either past or present and how that might impact the public with supporting space. Chris had very interesting comments about this so don’t miss them. Another listener asked him for his preference in destinations, the Moon or Mars. He said the Moon. Listen for the why. Space settlement was discussed, more on the NASA budget and a question came up about the use of nuclear propulsion. Near the end of the show he was asked about efforts in pursuing Faster Than Light Travel (FTL) and warp drive. He was not optimistic in this area. As the program was ending, I asked our guest how university teaching had changed over the course of his career. This led us to talking about student loans and university funding from the state and federal government.

Please post your comments on TSS blog above. You can reach Dr. Impey through me or his blog.

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Guest: Dr. Asif Siddiqi. Topics: Early space history through current times plus a historical perspective on commercial space & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed Dr. Asif Siddiqi to the show. During the first segment of our 1 hour 53 minute program, Dr. Siddiqi started out with my question about what was going on with space in 1946, the year I was born. He talked about the early days of space programs from the war, the Soviet Union and the US. We soon jumped forward to 1969, NASA, Apollo, the Moon, and how many of us from that era thought we were “entitled” to move forward in space to Mars and more. Our guest had much to say about this space entitlement culture, expectations, and the realities of the time. We talked about making giant leaps forward rather than a step by step evolving process of moving forward. Listeners asked him who got the better deal after WW2 with the German rocket scientists, the Soviet Union or the US? This opened the door to an extensive discussion about Dr. Wernher von Braun. Asif talked about robotic exploration and the excellent work other space nations and agencies were doing in this field. John in Ft. Worth called in talked about the impact of the failures of the Soviet Moon Rocket, the N-1. Our guest and John also talked about the impact of not having competition in the Moon program and how that may have negatively influenced our space program going forward. Dwayne called and we talked about many topics including the recently concluded Pioneering Space National Summit held in Washington, DC this past week to Mars One, the German rocket scientists after WW2, Arthur Rudolph and Karel Bossart of Atlas rocket fame.

In our second segment, John in Florida called to talk about the conspiracy theory that says the Germans purposely slowed progress on rockets. This was refuted for other reasons that caused some delays in our program and Russian launching Sputnik before we launched our first satellite. Next, we turned our attention to the Indian space program which is ambitious but Asif suggested that for now it may be exceeding its capabilities. Our guest noted they were starting a human spaceflight program and that India was concerned with China and possibly competing with them in space. The Indian military space program was mentioned as well. Marshall called and talked about Elon and SpaceX. Asif had some important things to say about SpaceX, commercial space and government programs. As we were approaching the end of our program, I asked him what he thought the space history would reflect if written in 2025 for the past decade, the time from now to 2025. Dr. Siddiqi said it was hard to look forward but he thought some form of Orion would be flying, was not sure about SLS given the proposed low flight rate and suggested ARM won’t happen. He mentioned many other possibilities for this theoretical ten year time period . Dwayne called back to comment on Asif’s earlier comments about corporate space programs and policies. Asif mentioned books and subjects that he liked to review for historical purposes plus he said new historical documents were in such different formats than earlier documents he was not sure how this might influence or impact the work of future historians. As the show ended, I asked him if thought the Moon would be as hard to return to as going to Mars might be for humans. He said no because the barriers for going back to the Moon were low compared to Mars and other destinations.

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Guest: Tom Olson, Golden Oldie.. Topics: The year 2013 in review for all things space. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.

We welcomed Tom Olson back to the show for his 2013 space year in review. Note that this program was pre-recorded on Dec. 19, 2013 for play today, Dec. 31, 2013. During the first segment of our two hour program, Tom began the review by talking about the Chinese lunar lander now on the Moon. He expressed concern that Russian and the U.S. may be left behind though we did talk about the private U.S. lunar missions working on getting back to the Moon ASAP. Tom next talked about NewSpace successes during the year, the successful completion of the COTS program with both the Orbital and SpaceX launchers taking supplies to the ISS. Tom suggested commercial crew was on time for 2017 and that SpaceX was making good progress with Grasshopper and potential reusability. He talked about controversy over Pad 39A development, the recent Dream Chaser accident, and the emergency of commercial markets for the ISS with CASIS and Nanoracks. Before this segment ended, Tom talked about the impact of sequestration and space politics for the industry as a whole, then he addressed SLS. As the segment was about to end, he named a few of the 2013 busts including NASA Redirect Mission, Inspiration Mars, and Mars One.

In our second segment, we talked about space advocacy during the year and the success of the 2013 NewSpace Business Plan Competition. Space settlement was discussed and as was NewSpace outreach, including congressional outreach. Tom talked about progress with the suborbital companies and Virgin Galactic. This took him to the space tourism topic and the 2014 planned Virgin Galactic operational flights. Our guest was asked about the regulatory issues in 2013 and what he thought they would be like for 2014. For the most part, he predicted no change. We talked about financing space ventures and capital acquisition for 2013 as well as start-ups and space entrepreneurs. He also mentioned Armadillo Aerospace going dark during the year and mentioned the risks to the emerging commercial industry if funds become scarce or hard to obtain. Though this was a pre-recorded show, there were some advance email questions for Tom. One near the end of the program asked him about plans to do anything with his Colony Fund program. Tom said it was a great idea but 12-15 years ahead of its time and may someday be brought back to life. That said, he reminded us that the Colony Fund did advance the space scalable strategy. Before our discussion ended, Tom updated us on the activities of Walt Anderson and his new ventures.

Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can reach Tom through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.

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Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: Russian lunar program, UFOs, SpaceX & reusability, NASA. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

Today’s Open Lines discussion took place over a few segments and for about 1 hour 45 minutes. Our Open Lines discussion started with my providing scheduling announcements as there will be no live shows the week of April 21 due to medical issues I need to address. Rather than play specific OLDIE programs which I usually do in the absence of a live show, I suggested that listeners go through the archives and listen to an archived show or two of their choice, compare what you heard on the archived show to similar issues in space today, then call our next special Open Lines show which will probably be Sunday, April 27 and share your thoughts and perspectives with us. For this Open Lines program, I also suggested a few discussion topics including Russia’s Putin saying “We are coming to the Moon FOREVER” as reported in the MailOnline on April 11, 2014. You can read the article I discussed on the show at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2602291/We-coming-Moon-FOREVER-Russia-sets-plans-conquer-colonise-space-including-permanent-manned-moon-base.html. It reported Russia wanted to go to the Moon, colonize it and stay there as Russia was viewing the Moon as its own permanent colony along with similar colonies it wants to establish on Mars and asteroids. Putin also mentioned Russia was in a race to the Moon. Next, we fielded a few email listener questions, then John from Ft. Worth called the program to discuss an H2 documentary he saw on UFOs, “I know What I Saw.” John talked about the documentary and other items for most of the balance of our first segment. His discussion topics included various presidential statements to Air Force and other official statements to noted UFO/ET incidents that have been reported around the world. While this is not a usual Space Show topic, it does come up from time to time. I’ve not seen the documentary John referenced but if you want to see it, do a Google search for “I Know What I Saw” and you will find it on YouTube. I’ll probably watch it at some point but in reading the comments about it, the reviews are definitely mixed. John also talked about the upcoming SpaceX Falcon 9 launch and its reusability plans. He asked some thoughtful technical questions about reusability but I was unable to answer them. I was hoping a listener would call in with answers as I know many who listen to The Space Show follow the Falcon 9 and reusability in great detail but they did not call in today. For those of you listening on archives, if you would like to respond to John’s comments and questions, please do so on The Space Show blog.

In our second segment, Jan emailed in asking if I would consider working with substitute hosts when I was not available for the show, similar to what happens on other talk shows when the host is not available. In general, I am open to that but running The Space Show is very equipment intensive and I use a home studio so as I told Jan, I don’t have a clue how to work with substitute or guest hosts from the logistical point of view. I told her I was open to suggestions which I am. Earlier, I read a PR piece about the total lunar eclipse which should be seen in the Southwest the night of the 14th and the early morning of the 15th. Anthony sent in a note correcting the times I put out as I read the PR announcement wrong. If anyone sees it, let us know what you thought of it on the next Open Lines show. John from Ft. Worth called back in this segment to talk about possibilities for the Russian lunar program mentioned in the article I brought up in the first segment. He talked about the lack of interest for doing lunar activities in the U.S. and the reason for doing it is still largely national prestige. A listener sent in an interesting question about differences in commercial space, private space, & entrepreneurial space. Joe sent in an email commenting “what is going to happen to the space industry when Elon and SpaceX successfully land a fly-back booster?” We discussed the premise of Joe’s question and as I said, the industry is already seeing & feeling the impact of SpaceX Falcon 9 in the market place so if they prove out reusability and its potential cost saving features, I suspect the industry will be forced to make some significant changes and adjustments in their respective business models.

Please post comments and questions regarding this program on The Space Show blog as listed above.

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Guest: Dr. Robert (Bob) Zubrin. Topics: Everything Mars, Mars Society Arctic 365 and more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed Dr. Zubrin back to the show for this 90 minute discussion about everything Mars and the Mars Society. Dr. Zubrin opened up by telling us about the Mars Artic 365 program (http://ma365.marssociety.org) and their fund raising efforts through Indiegogo and other programs (www.indiegogo.com/projects/ma365-a-one-year-mars-simulation-in-the-canadian-arctic). Throughout the entire program, Dr. Zubrin received questions/comments about Arctic 365. He was asked about telepresence and having the sim in a more populated place than the arctic. Bob dismissed telepresence as not being nearly as effective as having humans work “on Mars” & he stressed the importance of simulating a real Mars working mission. Bob went over the logistics and scheduling for this first crew for Arctic 365, plus remaining opportunities and ways for people to participate in the program as the crew selection process is closed. We talked about the costs and crew skill sets, plus Mars Society fund raising efforts for this program. Jack emailed about radiation on Mars and as before, Bob suggested it was not as big a risk as many claim. He was also asked about teaming up with Mars One on Arctic 365 program. Bob said he was open to doing things with Mars One and suggested Arctic 365 would be a perfect training program those who train the Mars One crews. Later, Bob was asked about doing a completely private mission to Mars. Bob used this as a spring board to describing the kind of policy & political leadership in government and NASA, both of which he said absent for now. He even proposed some broad based financing suggestions. Doug called wanting to know his thoughts on Phobos & Deimos. Bob used this as an opportunity to support a flyby mission. He was not that supportive of visiting the Marian moons. Don’t miss his explanation for his position. As the segment was ending, I asked him about life on Mars. Bob thinks there probably is life on Mars, don’t miss what he had to say about this.

In the second segment, Steve asked Bob about the Delta V needed for going to the Moon as compared to Mars. He talked about the Moon being easier than Mars. Again, don’t miss all of Bob’s response to Steve’s question/comment. NASA and political leadership were more fully discussed in this segment, then he was asked about the SLS. Here, Bob had a lot to say. While critical of SLS, he would not cancel it. Again, don’t miss his comments on this topic. He talked about SpaceX & Falcon 9, heavy lift in general, crew size on a Mars mission, and finally possible threats from the Chinese space program. Toward the end he talked about electric propulsion for slow cargo missions, then I asked him for his thoughts on the Mars cycler system.

Guest: Dr. Paul Spudis. Topics: Space policy, cislunar development, The Moon, Clementine & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.

We welcomed Dr. Spudis back to the show for this 1 hour 54 minute wide ranging discussion on space policy, lunar activities, the Chinese space program, SLS, weapons in space, military space, and more. In our first segment, Dr. Spudis started with a report on the Chinese lunar lander/rover and said that he was hearing there were problems with it. Since the Chinese program is not transparent, he said it was hard to get details but even if the mission ended early, it met its goals of a soft landing on the Moon. He had more to say about the lander, the accomplishments of the Chinese program and some of the real progress by the Chinese, especially from their next to last mission. Dr. Spudis fielded many email questions and took calls. Our guest then started talking about the Clementine mission given its been 20 years since this very successful program. You can read his articles about Clementine on his website (spudislunarresources.com and also his blog, http://blogs.airspacemag.com/moon. He also talked about LCROSS and other recent missions. Just before the end of the first segment, Marshall phoned in to talk about taxing lunar entrepreneurial ventures. We also talked benefit sharing, global taxation, and commercial incentives. We closed the segment with Paul talking about the economic and wealth creating potential afforded us all by cislunar development.

In the second segment, he responded to an email question about the Earth-Mars space system having a higher commercial value than cislunar. Paul explained in some detail why that was not so & why cislunar is far greater in economic value and wealth potential. Paul then talked about Hugh Dryden & his accomplishments, then renaming the Dryden NASA facility after Neil Armstrong. Our next subject was American Exceptionalism with Paul blogged about last year. We then talked about space tourism. Paul said he was skeptical about it but we just wait and see. I mentioned a new book about Sir Richard Branson & problems with Virgin Galactic by British author Tom Bower. Here is an article that describes what we talked about: www.newspacejournal.com/2014/01/26/new-branson-bio-examines-delays-and-other-problems-with-virgin-galactic. Paul got a question from Phil to describe lunar ice, then SLS John called to agree with Paul’s SLS analysis and more. Rick was our final emailer asking about the ASRG cancellation and what this means for deep space & long duration missions. Paul’s concluding comments again supported the wealth & economic potential for cislunar development.

Please post comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can contact Dr. Spudis through his website.

Guests: John Batchelor, Gordon Chang, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: The Chinese space program and their lunar lander. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We do not permit the commercial use of any Space Show program or part thereof, nor do we permit Space Show programs to be edited, placed on YouTube, or other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted in news articles, papers, academic & research work but must be cited or referenced in the proper citation format. Contact Dr. Livingston for questions about our copyright and trademark policies which we do enforce. This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com. Remember, your Amazon Purchases Can Help Support The Space Show/OGLF (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm).

During our 11 minute plus discussion, John, Gordon & I discussed the Chinese space program, their lunar lander Chang’e 3 and their lunar rover, Yutu (Jade Rabbit). We talked about the science to be done by the rover, the high quality cameras in use, photos already taken of the landing site and of Earth and possible future aspects of the Chinese program.

Please post any comments/questions you might have on The Space Show blog. You can contact any of us through drspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Haym Benaroya, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: The Chinese lunar lander and space policy, asteroid, NASA management, the Moon, Mars. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We do not permit the commercial use of any Space Show program or part thereof, nor do we permit Space Show programs to be edited, placed on YouTube, or other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted in news articles, papers, academic & research work but must be cited or referenced in the proper citation format. Contact Dr. Livingston for questions about our copyright and trademark policies which we do enforce. This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com. Remember, your Amazon Purchases Can Help Support The Space Show/OGLF (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm).

During our 11 minute plus discussion, John, Dr. Benaroya & I discussed NASA management issues, the Chinese lunar lander and confusing press reports as to where their lander actually landed, asteroids and comets, returning to the Moon, and going to Mars. Dr. Benaroya and I were in John’s WABC New York City studios for this short segment.

Please post any comments/questions you might have on The Space Show blog. You can contact any of us through drspace@thespaceshow.com.